Concrete pavements curing evaluation with non-destructive tests

• Published in: Construction & building materials Vol. 154; pp. 1250 - 1262
• Main Authors: Joshaghani, Alireza, Zollinger, Dan G.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 15.11.2017; Elsevier B.V
• Subjects: Analysis; Concrete; Curing; Dielectric constant (DC); Effectiveness index (EI); Ground penetrating radar; Ground penetrating radar (GPR); Mechanical properties; Nondestructive testing; Pavement; Pavements; Percometer; Shrinkage; United States; Ground penetrating radar (GPR); Effectiveness index (EI); Pavement; Curing; Concrete; Percometer; Shrinkage; Dielectric constant (DC)
• ISSN: 0950-0618; 1879-0526
• DOI: 10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2017.06.110

•A higher EI is expected to indicate a better curing, which is influenced by the curing conditions.•The DC measurements might be conducted during placement of concrete by GPR and percometer.•DC measurements are highly associated with moisture content at the surface of the concrete, mixture designs and curing conditions.•The EI for the test section could be predicted based on the known relationship between EI and DC.•The drying shrinkage proved that the pre-wetting aggregates in internal curing specimen reduced the shrinkage strain. This study was completed by the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI). The ground penetrating radar (GPR) technology and percometer were implemented for newly constructed highways. The GPR identifies the subsurface condition, which permits the user to determine the moisture availability for potential concrete curing. For this purpose, a GPR data acquisition program and data analysis system were developed by utilizing antenna. A combination of GPR information evaluation and curing quality evaluation is performed to diagnose the effectiveness of the applied curing compounds in terms of the moisture retention capability. Dielectric constant (DC) measurements were also taken on concrete specimens to indicate the free moisture content of the surface concrete. The new procedure consists of using measured relative humidity and temperature to calculate an Effectiveness Index (EI). EI and DC measurements indicate potentials to differentiate the curing quality of rigid pavement construction. Researchers examined the relationship between the Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) data and the actual concrete properties to develop “acceptability of quality” limits based upon the NDT data. The field investigations were conducted on two continuously reinforced concrete paving (CRCP) projects’ microfiber and internal curing mixtures.